


Don't Stop The Music

by fikidurin



Series: 12 Days of Christmas 2020 [4]
Category: The Hobbit - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ice Skating, M/M, Major Character Injury, World Figure Skating Championships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-17
Updated: 2020-12-17
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:33:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,901
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28129194
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fikidurin/pseuds/fikidurin
Summary: For Fili and Kili, their life begins out on the ice.
Relationships: Fíli/Kíli (Tolkien)
Series: 12 Days of Christmas 2020 [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2056737
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16
Collections: GatheringFiKi - 12 Days Of Christmas 2020





	Don't Stop The Music

**Author's Note:**

> I highly recommend watching the video of Stephane Lambiel skating at the end. Everything from the song, to the outfit, to the chereography is what inspired this fic, and is how I imagined Fili skating at the end.

**2014**

Fili leaves the ice, panting heavily and exhilarated. He can still hear the cheers and applause, fancies that he can hear his mother and uncle the loudest of all, though truth be told he can’t distinguish any scream from the next.

This isn’t the first time he’s skated for an audience, although it’s the first time he’s competed in a competition as an adult.

His navy sweater is covered in shavings of ice, and he’s shivering, but not from the cold. His throat feels parched, but he’s too busy getting his breath back to seek out a drink.

“Here,” someone hails him, pressing a bottle of water into his hand. It should be his coach, waiting for him here, but Fili’s fairly sure his coach is trying to get him six sponsorship deals before the end of the day, and a little thing like dealing with post-skate adrenaline isn’t going to stand in his way.

“Thanks,” he replies, taking a long swig and almost spitting the water straight back out when he sees who he’s talking to. “Holy _shit_ , you’re Kili Durin.”

“In the flesh,” Kili grins, and pats the seat next to him. “And you’re Fili Oakenshield. You were pretty amazing out there.”

Fili’s eyes almost bulge out of his head. Kili Durin is complimenting him. Kili Durin, the youngest gold medallist for the UK Olympics in like _ever_. Kili, who was allowed to compete in the World Championships as an adult when he was only seventeen years old, because he outclassed half of his peers.

“Thanks,” Fili chokes out, and takes another swig of water to cover up his craziness. “You too. I mean, not that I… I know you haven’t skated yet, but you’re like my hero.”

Kili laughs and throws an arm over Fili’s shoulder. “Well, thanks, I think. Welcome to the big leagues, kid.”

“I’m older than you,” Fili points out feebly, but it’s lost as Kili laughs again, and Fili thinks he might be a little bit in love.

* * *

**2018**

“How bad is it?” Kili asks quietly.

Fili hates how weak Kili’s voice is. How all the sparkle has gone from his eyes since the accident. It’s like he can’t bring himself to hope, and it’s dulled his appreciation for life. He spends most of his days moping on the sofa of their shared apartment, at least when he’s not in the hospital. 

It was so stupid. One of the junior competitors had snuck into their private practice and crashed into him. The combination of Kili’s triple salchow and an overeager fan resulted in two broken bones and some muscle damage to Kili’s ankle. The kid had skated away without even a scratch, though there’s probably some psychological damage there.

Three surgeries later, they’re finally about to get some answers regarding Kili’s future on the ice.

“I still can’t say for certain. What I can tell you is that the surgeries have been successful in repairing the damage to your ankle. You’re looking at some quite intensive physiotherapy to help strengthen the atrophied muscles.”

Kili’s already shaking his head. “Ballpark it for me. Will I be able to skate again?”

The doctor visibly hesitates, and Fili feels his stomach drop. “Yes,” he says carefully, cautiously. “I should think so.”

“But?” Kili prompts.

“I can’t recommend you return to competitive skating, at least not any time soon. You have to understand, recovery from an accident like this only goes so far. The rigorous training regimen will only serve to strain your muscles, and another accident could mean you’ll never skate again.”

Fili feels tears sting his eyes, and he hates himself for it. This isn’t his career being snatched away. It’s Kili’s. He’s supposed to be strong, but the selfish part of his brain is fixated on the fact that they’ll likely never skate together competitively.

The doctor is still talking, but Kili no longer appears to be listening. “For now, I can only recommend you take it easy, undergo the physiotherapy, and we’ll revisit this conversation in a few years.”

“Can we have a minute, Doctor?” Fili interrupts, and makes no apology for his rudeness. But his boyfriend has just been given the worst news of his life, and Fili needs to understand how he’s handling that. How he can be there for him.

He reaches for Kili’s hand, but it just lies limp against his knee when Kili makes no move to take it. It leaves him feeling helpless. He doesn’t know how to reach Kili like this. 

“This is all I know how to be,” Kili whispers brokenly.

“No,” Fili insists. “No, you are so much more than this. Skating is what you _do_. It’s not what you are.”

“It’s not either anymore,” Kili replies, and he sounds so tired. “Can we just… go home?”

Fili nods, wishing he knew how to take away Kili’s pain, and lets his hand fall away. 

* * *

**2020**

“Congratulations again,” Kili tells him sincerely. “Another trophy to add to the collection.”

Fili gives a sheepish half-shrug. “Only a silver one though. Clearly I need to step up my game if I’m going to take gold next year.”

The high of the win hasn’t yet worn off. Kili has been cheering him on from the sidelines, and they’ve decided to join the official afterparty, get a few drinks and celebrate the end of the year and the end of the competition.

It’s been two whole years since Kili’s accident, but he’s still welcomed here as much as any competitor. It has been a long road, filled with tears and fear and moments Fili wasn’t sure they’d make it, but they have. They’ve come out the other side, stronger and more in love than ever.

They’re all dressed up, fitted suits and open collars and Fili hates it. They’re stuck in a tiny room decorated like an industrial factory, with a sheet metal alloy countertop and rustic bar stools. The only hint of modernity are blue twinkling Christmas lights, and they’re tacky as hell.

It’s pretentious and hipster and Fili would much rather be at home with Kili, celebrating their way, in clothes they chose to wear.

But he has to show his face, at least for a little while.

He loses Kili somewhere between one congratulations and the next, and cranes his neck to catch sight of his partner, to no avail. Fili sips champagne, lets someone buy him a beer, which he nurses while he waits for Kili to return.

When he doesn’t, Fili knows exactly where he’ll be.

The rink closed hours ago, but they’ve both skated here for years now. It’s where they both come to think, where they work out their issues. They know how to get inside without disturbing anyone, they know the caretakers, the owners, the security.

He watches from the stands, shrouded in darkness, as Kili skates. There’s no music, no lights, but he’s as fluid as graceful as he ever has been. 

Kili skates, and Fili falls in love with him all over again.

The spotlights come on and Fili jumps, thinking he’s been spotted, but the light isn’t aimed at him. It’s aimed at Kili.

Music begins to play, and Fili recognises the song from some sheet music he’s seen around the apartment. But he spares no further thoughts for the melody, as Kili begins a routine that Fili has never seen before.

He seems to fall onto the ice almost immediately, but Fili can see the precise control Kili has over his body. He didn’t slip, this is part of the routine.

The sight is entrancing. The routine is daring, rugged, sexy. Every part of the routine screams sex and desire.

Kili has never skated like this before.

Yet something about the routine is discordant. There are no jumps. No toe loops, no lutz. 

It’s a complex choreography, but there’s nothing that would have an audience cheering at the skill.

“It’s what I planned to skate against you this year,” Kili calls out, and Fili represses a smile as he steps out of the darkness.

“How did you know?”

Kili gives him a wry smile and skates backwards, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. “You always see me. You always have. Since we were kids and you practically fainted in my presence.”

Fili frowns. “I was 26 and I’m still older than you!” he protests. “And you flustered me. You were hot and talented. You still are. I could never come up with something like this.”

Kili twirls and bends, his hands knotting into fists as he attempts a salchow, but fumbles the landing and is forced to brace against the ice with his hand. There’s a fleeting moment where ugly frustration spreads across his face, and then it’s gone.

Instead, he signals for the music to stop, the spotlights to cut out, and he leaves the ice.

* * *

**2021**

“I’m sorry, what?” Kili stares at Fili, but every part of his stunned expression shows he heard exactly what Fili just said.

“I want to skate your routine,” Fili replies patiently. “The one you showed me at the end of last year. I’ve been practicing it. Added a few jumps in where there was space.”

“Are you serious? You’re up in like… thirty minutes. You’ve got a routine. You’ve got music, an outfit, everything is tailored to your performance. You can’t just change to a routine you saw me do _once_.”

Fili just shrugs. “I told you, I’ve been practicing. Don’t worry about all of the details. Those are my problems. But the routine is yours, and I can’t skate it unless you say yes, right now.”

He meets Kili’s gaze, unflinching and sincere. He wants to do this. That choreography, he’ll never be able to do it justice the way Kili did. He’ll never have that level of self-confidence. But Kili can’t skate it, and it deserves to be shared with the world.

So Fili will skate it for him.

“Why?” Kili asks, eventually. “Why does this mean so much to you?”

Fili swallows. “I haven’t been at my best recently, not since your injury. No, don’t pull that face, Kee. It’s true. Because the truth is, I’ve always loved skating. But skating with you just… magnified that. Competing against you was half of the fun. And then that suddenly stopped.”

“It’s not like I could help that,” Kili sighs. “You think I don’t want to be out there with you?”

“I know you do. And that’s exactly my point. I want you out there with me. Because for me, being out there, it’s _us_. It’s a combination of our history and our story and our love. Let me immortalise that. And I can’t take you with me physically. So let me carry a part of you emotionally. Let me skate what you can’t, and the end result will be greater than the sum of both of us.”

He barely finishes speaking and Kili is kissing him, and Fili lets the world slip away in favour of the thing that matters most: the love of his life.

“I take it that’s a yes,” he laughs between kisses.

“How was I supposed to say no to that?” Kili huffs, but he’s too busy pulling Fili into another kiss to wait for a response.

(They take home a shiny gold trophy, and call it a joint win.)

* * *

  


**Author's Note:**

> If you have any thoughts, I'd love to hear them! Leave a comment below, or even a kudos.
> 
> You can find me on tumblr @ [fikidurin](https://fikidurin.tumblr.com)


End file.
